A very considerable amount of work has been done in the past to join tubular members in subsea locations. One type of method which is believed to be particularly advantageous for joining tubular members underwater is to provide a ball joint having external connecting means and a bell member with a grooved inside diameter which fits closely about a pipe end to be joined thereto. A device is provided within the joint which can be positioned with an expansion sleeve within the pipe end so that when hydraulic pressure is applied to the expansion sleeve, it expands the pipe end into the internal grooves in the bell member to provide a sealed joint with means for connecting to another pipe.
One particular disadvantage of these prior art devices is that there must be bleed ports or vents through the bell portion to vent the water trapped in the grooves when the pipe end is deformed into the grooves.
Another problem with the prior art devices is the lack of a means to pressure test the joint while the expansion sleeve is still in position to determine if it is necessary to exert further expansion pressure on the pipe end to complete any incomplete deformation.
An example of this type of prior art device is shown in the March 1983 issue of Offshore Engineer wherein the expansion sleeve is expanded responsive to axial compression of the resilient sleeve within the deformable pipe end of the joint so that it is expanded into the grooves within the bell.
Another example of joint forming is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,555 in which rollers are forced laterally outward and rotated within a pin end to expand it against the interior of the bell.